laugh lines
by the moonlight mona lisa
Summary: she doesn't take her new position lightly, and ends up needing a break. — jolene, bandy andy.


Jolene does not take her new position lightly - now that Grubba is gone, she'll work some sense into the Glitz Pit. She had always wanted to, as once upon a time, she had thought that Grubba's insubordination and lack of total care for _all _fighters was what made many of them disappear. And then, if no new fighters joined, they lost ratings, and if that had kept up, who knows what would've happened to the pit?

Even though they were still successful, Jolene had worried and worried that the Pit would close, and then where would that leave her? Jobless, yes, but that didn't matter.

It would have left her without any way to get her poor, baby brother back.

But now that he was back, he was not getting anywhere out of her sight. He would argue that she was babying him, but she knew he needed to get his strength back, because she knew him too well, and she knew that he would want back in the ranks as soon as humanly possible.

Managing the Glitz Pit was hard, especially when you had to worry not just about your brother, but about... stalkers, as well.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all," he had said, and Jolene was ready to blow a fuse.

"Andy! Get out of here! I have work to do!"

Andy - Bandy Andy, rather - would not let up on his strange followings of her. Jolene had believed that he had just been following her to solve her mystery, as he had once referred to her and Grubba as the "Seventh Wonder of the Glitz Pit" but now, it was clearly obvious that he was following her for an entirely different reason.

The green-clad man sighed. "Oh, fine."

But he chuckled as he left.

And Jolene was debating on throwing something at him as he casually strolled out of the door like he owned the place.

Hours later, when she had finally finished filing paperwork for new fighters that wanted to join - as it turns out, the return of Prince Mush created a huge rush to join - Jolene ruffled her blonde locks.

Ugh. Work was so overbearing.

It was times like these, Jolene decided, that she needed a drink. And she needed the night life.

So, she did what she had always done. She changed out of her dusty old red suit, and dropped her glasses off in her case. She silently walked towards the door, opened it and -

"Hey, sis. What're you doing?" Mush was still up. Crap.

"Just, um... going out. I'll be back in a few hours, so there's no need to worry."

Jolene didn't give him time to judge her outfit and tell her to change or even respond to her half-lied sentence. She ran for it. There was no way her little brother would let her go out in her form-fitting black dress. Never ever.

But that didn't matter, either.

Jolene just needed a break.

* * *

It was easy to become an entirely different person at the juice bar - especially when it was late. Jolene knew the ins and outs of the bar, and she knew who was a sleezeball and who wasn't.

But, apparently, that didn't stop them. Men hit on her all the time. While it had been flattering at first, they then started telling of a sexy woman at the juice bar, and then... all their friends came hounding to meet her.

She turned most of them down. There were a few she tried it out with, but they eventually didn't work out. Most of them wanted the same thing, and Jolene didn't want what they wanted.

Such a shame.

Still... it was nice to be noticed. And, apparently, noticed by the same person - and not just as her night life alter-ego. It seemed that Bandy Andy had spotted her... But did he know who she really was? She certainly hoped not. That would make for a bad reputation at the Glitz Pit. None of the fighters would take her seriously, and they'd flirt with her and she'd have to yell at them and then they'd all hate her...

Well, that could be the worst part. If he told, that would most likely happen. But, then again, he might not even know she was who she was.

Jolene took a sip of the alcohol in front of her and stared down at it, hoping that Andy would keep his distance.

But, apparently not.

He approached her, cautiously and slowly, and then, he sat down. Jolene's eyes widened in fear. This could be bad.

"I know your secret."

Jolene gulped. He _knew_. Oh, god, he _so_ knew.

Jolene mustered up some courage. She could do this. She was her sexy, cynical, witty alter-ego. She could so do this. All she had to do was speak.

"I hope it stays a secret then, Andrew."

Andrew. That was his real name. Nobody really used it often, because nobody really knew. It was an easy enough name to guess, but Jolene had it on his paperwork. She hadn't used it in a while. She only used it when she was exceptionally frustrated with him.

But, then again, she felt her alter-ego would just casually call him by it.

And then he laughed.

And so did Jolene.

It had been such a long time since Jolene had laughed. So long, in fact, she had almost forgotten how nice it was to have her lips curl in a way that only laughter could.

She just didn't realize she could find herself smiling again because of him.

* * *

**Sap. Sap everywhere. tbh i'm actually really upset that i'm the only person on the face of the earth that ships them. **

**also, i really love paper mario woo hoo.**

**this is really stupid. this is just. why did i write this.**

**i obviously don't own anything. ok bye.**


End file.
